Three studies on psychological distress, health-risk behaviors, and health care access among Chinese, Filipino, and Asian Indian American Subgroups

Abstract

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic minority population in the United States. Among this group, Chinese-, Filipino-, and Asian Indian Americans are the most three largest Asian American subgroups. Yet, health-related research on the growing Asian American population at the subgroup level remains limited. To date, studies have focused on aggregating all Asians into a single category. The current study sought to examine psychological distress, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, and health care access among the three most populous subgroups of Asian Americans. In Study 1, we focus on psychological distress. In Study 2, we focus on current cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Finally, we focus on the usual source of health care among these three subgroups in Study 3. We use the pooled National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data (2011-2015) for our statistical analyses. Participants are self-identified Asian American adults who completed the Sample Adult Component questionnaires of the survey. NHIS provides information on adults' psychological distress, current smoking and alcohol consumption, and health care access. We run a series of multivariate regression models to examine key factors associated with psychological distress, health risk behaviors, and usual source of care. The results of this dissertation highlight the importance of disaggregated data analysis when examining factors related to psychological distress, current cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, and having a usual source of care. We showed that there were significant health disparities remain in psychological distress, health-risk behaviors, and usual source of care across Asian American subgroups. Marked differences in health outcomes indicate the underlying significance of different predictors and draw the attention of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to address the existing health disparities. Once policymakers understand the disproportionate health outcomes, they have the opportunity to formulate policies and legislation that will more accurately represent the experiences of specific Asian American subgroups so that targeted public services can be more productive.